17. Jensen
Jensen
Ivy’s either not home or she’s in a deep sleep in there. I’ve been banging around at her front door for twenty minutes.
The drill gets her attention. She flings her door open. “What the hell are you doing out here?”
She’s been asleep. Her hair is a sexy mess. But her swollen eyes make me want to hold her and apologize until she accepts it. She opens her eyes wide and gestures at the barrier between us. “What is this?”
“It’s a screen door.”
“How’d you know I wanted a screen door?”
“My mom always like slamming one when she was mad, and this one was just taking up space in my shop, so I figured you could put it to good use.” I open the screen door and slam it, mentally patting myself on the back for the good job I did hanging it.
“I’m only going to be here for another week.”
“Yeah, well, I might not be done pissing you off yet.”
“I’m pretty pissed off that you woke me up.”
“Sleeping all day is unhealthy. And rude. Zara came all this way to see you, and you’re not even hanging out with her.”
“She left me for Dice. And I don’t even where they went.”
I laugh because I already knew that. “They’re fishing with Cujo and Josephine.”
“You never took me fishing.”
“How come I didn’t know you liked to fish?”
“Probably because you never asked.”
“Well, damn!” I open her screen door and slam it again.
She bites her lip, trying not to smile. “Does this thing have a latch so the wind won’t grab it and bang it open and shut all day and night?”
“No. But if you’re nice to me, I could probably find you a latch for it.”
“I got a whole door without being nice to you at all.”
“That’s not true. You just haven’t been nice to me today.”
“I don’t have enough reward points built up from my past nice moments?”
“You might. I guess I could find you a latch based on that.”
“You’re going to give in, just like that?”
“Would a latch for this door make you happy?”
“You can’t just do things because they’ll make me happy.”
“Try me.” I lean my forehead against the screen. “Do you want to go fishing?”
“I’m not sure. Are you going to keep any pertinent information from me?”
“I am going to tell you everything there is to tell about this fishing hole. I am going to describe every lure to you, sparing no details. When you catch a fish, I’m going to count its scales so you’ll never have to wonder how many it had. If we—”
“Keep going and you’re going to piss me off all over again.”
“You got a door for that.” I take a few steps back.
She swings it open, and pulls it halfway back before she releases it to let it slam. “Damn, that is pretty satisfying.” She slams it again.
I step close enough to press my face back into the screen and pucker my lips against it.
“I am not kissing you through that dirty screen.”
“Well, if you’re not willing to get dirty, I don’t know if I want to take you fishing after all.”
“Don’t you have work to do?”
“Nothing that’s more important than working on us.”
“Dammit, quit being great. I’m not ready to forgive you yet.”
“You don’t have to forgive me yet, Ivy. Just put some shoes on. Let’s go fishing with friends.”
She slams her new screen door as we leave.
We’ll hardly see each other over the next two days. She might forgive me by Monday or she might be completely over me by then, but she’s willing to get in the truck with me now, so I’m taking her fishing.